


Peacetime

by demonsonthemoon



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Multi, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Porn with Feelings, Threesome - F/M/M, if there's one thing for which I will defend Uprising with my life it's the potential for OT3s, this was supposed to be a quick PWP and then 3K words of introduction happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-11 01:44:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15304668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonsonthemoon/pseuds/demonsonthemoon
Summary: After their victory against the gian kaiju, Jules celebrates. She celebrates humanity's survival, but also the fact that her two favorite Rangers are coming home.And she also hopes that "coming home" will involve "coming" in her bed.





	Peacetime

**Author's Note:**

> I am extremely sorry for that summary I just couldn't help myself, I'm laughing too hard.
> 
> Big thanks to Abel for cheerleading.

The aftermath of the battle was a confusing, exhausting mess. After the last few days – Obsidian Fury, the drone attack, the furious scrambling that immediately followed as they desperately tried to re-build _something_ that could help them save the world – everyone was tired.

At the same time, however, no one could seriously consider going to sleep with so much relief and joy coursing through their veins. The adrenaline rush was a wild and addictive feeling.

As one of the heads of the J-Tech department, however, Jules Reyes couldn't simply give herself over to the celebration. She had to make sure the repair bays were ready for the repatriated Jaegers, find at least one team of technicians willing to take the first shift to take care of emergency repairs, and somehow find a way to get access to the parts they needed. The last few days had been a strain on their budget for sure, so that last task wasn't going to be easy. Maybe Liwen Shao would help again. As long as she had her parts, Jules would be happy. Let the higher heads deal with the contracts and debts and whatnots.

So Jules got to work, despite the frenetic rythm of her heartbeat. Despite the fact that her thoughts kept going back to the Jaeger pilots, to Nate and Jake and the fact that they were coming back, that they had survived and saved the world and that they were  _coming back_ .

She chastised herself, trying to keep focused on her work. They would need to stop by the medical bay anyway, she wouldn't be able to see them right away. Nate had been well enough to track Newt down, but that barely meant anything considering the adreline rush he must have been under. There was no saying how serious the wound he had suffered fighting the kaiju really was. And Jake would probably pretend that he was totally fine, but he had been launched to the limits of the Earth atmosphere in a defective connpod.

Jules groaned at the idea how how much repair Gipsy Avenger's connpod would need. At least it helped her re-focus on giving directions to her team of techs so they could prepare for the Jaegers' arrival as well as they could.

 

Once they did arrive, though, Jules didn't see the point in holding herself or her techs back. They all rushed towards the landing bay, letting whatever they had been holding fall to the ground. Whenever she looked around, Jules saw matching grins on everyone's face. Although, watching the four Jaegers be dropped was a bittersweet sight. Most of them couldn't stand on their own anymore. But at least they were here.

And then the choppers landed, and the pilots came out, one by one.

Ryiochi and Meilin, Saber Athena's pilots came out first, and helped Ilya, Guardian Bravo's last pilot, exit the same chopper. They carried him for two steps before a group of med techs rushed in with a gurney, laying him down. The two other pilots hesitated for a second, wanting to follow him as he was rushed away, but Ilya waved them off with a forced smile. So Ryiochi and Meilin waited as the door of a second helicopted opened and Amara, Vik and Jihai came out. The five ex-cadets ran towards each other, teary smiles on their faces.

Jules found it strange, to be in the crowd, a respectful distance away but still close enough to witness these acts of intimacy. She watched them hug each other, full of wonder at how young they were and what they had accomplished already. They had all hoped, ten years ago, that the time of children growing up too fast and dying too soon was over. As she watched the ex-cadets release each other from their embrace and gaze towards the medical bay, she knew that that hope had been foolish. There was always a new war waiting around the corner.

Finally,  _finally_ , Jake and Nate came out onto the landing bay. Nate had one arm around Jake's shoulder, who took careful steps forward, helping his co-pilot walk. Jules felt something expand in her chest at the sight of them, these two utterly breakable men, somehow alive and standing. She wanted to catch their eyes, let them know she was here, let them know how happy she was that  _they came back_ . But there were too many people all around her, and soon they were being taken to the medical bay as well, Nate in a wheelchair and all of the Jaeger pilots trailing behind him.

Jules smiled. Then she clapped her hands and started shouting orders at anyone wearing a J-tech uniform or looking like they had nothing to do. They had to stabilise any Jaeger component that had been damaged and could cause a short-circuit. No one wanted the Shatterdome to get even more damaged than it already was because of something as silly as a short-circuit.

“Come on, gals and guys and everyone! If you want to party this evening we have to stabilize these Jaegers before sunset!”

 

They managed to get their work done before 10PM _somehow_. Most of their equipment had had to be repurposed, but by now they were all becoming much more creative when it came to those kinds of things. The only thing left to do for the night was pray that everything would hold.

Jules thanked her team for their hard work, and they all rushed to the mess hall for some hard-earned dinner, stuffing themselves with mashed potatoes and noodles and sautéd vegetables. The atmosphere in the mess hall was electric. Everyone had seemed to forget their tiredness once they'd had food in front of them and a night of loud music and alcohol to look forward too.

Jules spared a thought for Nate and Jake, wondering whether they would be held in medical for the night or be able to attend the party. She wondered if they would be looking for her.

Jules wasn't blind. She knew how both of them looked at her. She had been lightly flirting with Nate for a few weeks now, and Jake had made obvious that he was interested in her during their first conversation. And she had tried to show her own interest in return. She thought that she had even been quite obvious about it, although in her experience men tended to be _dense_.

Her dinner finished, Jules let herself be dragged to the party which was apparently happening in one of the Jaeger repair bays. It was bittersweet to be there, as a J-tech officer, since she knew the place was only empty because Valor Omega had been nearly entirely destroyed during the drone attack. Still. It was large, empty, and once some dedicated party-throwers had brought in a few tables and benches from the mess hall, all the alcohol they could find, and repurposed the comm systems to play some music, it did the job fine.

Jules threw herself into the atmosphere of the party, and it was like taking a breath of the purest air you had ever felt, like shedding a skin and being reborn.

“Okay, people!” She shouted over the music, turning around to face her team of co-workers. “Let's get this party started with some shots!”

There were cheers from a few of her friends, and they made their ways to the alcohol table, lining up two shots of tequila in front of everyone.

“To victory!” Jules said, raising the first glass.

“To victory!”

The rest of the night was a whirlwind of dance music, sweaty bodies and alcohol. Jules felt like she had fire in her veins, until it ran out, and then the only thing she could think about was going back to her quarters and sleeping for a lifetime. She said her goodbyes to her friends, planting two sloppy kisses on the cheeks of Aida, one of her closest co-workers. The way back to her room seemed longer than usual, probably because Jules wasn't exactly walking in a straight line.

Once inside, she eyed the t-shirt and boxer shorts she usually slept in, decided they were too much effort, and just kicked off her shoes before settling down in bed.

Then she groaned, got up again, drank two glasses of water, and _finally_ went to sleep.

 

She still woke up with a headache the next day. But well. It wasn't her first rodeo. She checked the time, realised that it was 10AM, and groaned. By military standards, this definitely qualified as sleeping in. Jules inspected her morals and realised she didn't care. The next catastrophe would _hopefully_ wait a few days, so she might as well take one morning off.

She got up with a groan and didn't turn on any light until she got to her tiny bathroom. Then she groaned again when she _did_ turn on the bathroom light. She left her dirty clothes in a pile under the sink, took a quick shower, then got ready to have brunch at the mess hall. She only felt barely alive, but at least she was moving. Most faces in the mess seemed as tired and hungover as she was. The only exceptions were those who had accepted to take a morning shift, hadn't come to the party, and were coming in for lunch.

Jules sat at her usual table with the few people from her crew to be already awake. The conversation was slow-going, which was fine for her since she had exhausted almost the totality of her social energy the night before.

After she had eaten enough greasy food to make her brain feel a bit less like it was drowning in alcohol, she told her friends she was going to try to find someone before starting her shift, and walked out of the mess.

She checked the pilot training room, though it seemed unlikely that anyone would have the energy to practice after yesterday, and wasn't surprised to find it empty. Then she checked the main sports hall, because it was on her way, and reached the pilots' quarters. She knocked on Jake's door but didn't get any answer. She checked the rangers' communal room, but didn't find him there either. In the end, she found him in the cadets' room, playing a round of cards with Amara, Meilin and Ryiochi while Vik and Jinhai were watching something on a tablet, sitting close together on one bed.

The door was open, so she didn't feel like she was intruding. She still knocked anyway, announcing her presence.

They all looked up at once, which was a little bit unnerving. Jules smiled. “Hey everyone.”

The ex-cadets looked slightly confused. They all vaguely knew her, since she was head of her division, but she guessed that they had no idea why she would be here. Jake, however, smiled brightly at her. She smiled back.

“How are you holding up?” she asked.

“I'm good,” Jake replied. “Spent the night in the med bay, so I missed the party but at least I slept well. You?”

“Ah,” Jules chuckled. “I didn't miss the party. So I slept like shit.” She grinned. “But I'm good. You guys?” She looked at all the ex-cadets.

Amara shrugged. “We're okay. It's... weird.”

Jules nodded.

“Ilya's still in medical,” Meilin added.

Jules turned back towards Jake. “Nate?”

“Still in medical too. But his wound isn't too bad, so he should be released this afternoon.”

She nodded again. “Good. I have to go. J-tech's kind of overworked right now and I need to put in at least one shift. But I'll find you tonight.”

Then she walked away, not waiting for an answer. She didn't need one. There was no question in what she had said.

 

Jules was growing more and more distracted as the evening grew closer, and finally decided that it just wasn't worth it anymore and put her tools back in place. She did a quick round to check with the others working on Saber Athena that everything was going okay, answered a few questions, and then called it a day. After having grabbed herself some early dinner, she went back to her quarters for her second shower of the day, then changed into something more casual than her work clothes.

And then she went looking.

She checked Jake and Nate's rooms first, then the Ranger's communal room. She found them in the kitchens.

They were both eating gelato with sprinkles on it, talking in-between bites. She watched them for a moment, while they still hadn't noticed her.

For the first time when it came to them, she felt insecure. They were drift partners, after all. They had a shared history that she wasn't privy too. They had the connections of memories shared and she... Who was she? A glorified technician. Someone they barely knew, whom they shared only months or _days_ with, respectively. How could she hope to compare, to compete?

But she wasn't here to compete. She wasn't here to come in-between _anything_.

So she breathed in, and walked into the room in a few confident strides.

“Can I join you guys?”

Jake actually jumped a little in surprise, and both of them looked up. She felt her cheeks warm under their gaze, although she hoped they wouldn't be able to tell.

“Yeah, of course,” Nate replied, already scrambling up to get a third bowl.

“Let me-” Jake interrupted, pushing Nate back down. The blond started sitting down again before Jake had even touched his shoulder.

Jules let Jake serve her a bowl of ice-cream, with whipped cream but sans sprinkles.

“How are you holding up?” She asked Nate, sitting herself up on the table next to him since there were only two chairs in the room.

“I'll live.” Nate shrugged. “It's really not that bad, no organs touched or anything. I was just in a bad shape when the adrenaline wore off, and it took a while to get back on my feet. But I'll live.”

“And are you okay...?” She gestured towards her brain.

Both men nodded. “Yeah,” Jake replied. “Long drifts are hard. And when Nate...” He paused, swallowing a mouthful of gelato. “It was hard. But we're okay.”

Nate nodded.

A tension relaxed in Jules' spine that she hadn't known had been there.

“Good.”

She took a few spoonfuls of gelato as silence settled around them. Jules felt like she had boiling water under her skin. She still felt like they didn't understand what she wanted, like they were still confused. She couldn't rely on subtlety to do the job here. And she probably couldn't count on them taking the first step because, once again, men were _dense_.

She put her bowl of ice-cream down.

“Can you guys promise me not to do or say anything for thirty seconds? Thirty seconds. That's all I ask.”

Nate and Jake frowned at her, then exchanged a look.

“Sure?” Nate finally replied and, since he was currently sitting closest to her, Jules jumped off the table, bent down and pressed her lips against his.

After a second of contact, she pulled away, turned towards Jake, took the two steps that separated them, and kissed him as well.

Then she walked back to her spot on the table, and ate some gelato.

Jake's mouth hung open, and Nate was frowning. They exchanged another look.

“Okay, so...” Jake started.

“You...” Nate tried to continue.

Jules ate more ice-cream, letting them process it.

“You, what, like us? Both?” That was Jake, looking surprised, sounding intrigued.

She nodded. “I thought I had made it pretty clear, but apparently not clear enough.”

“It's just that...”

“What, you haven't heard of a threesome before?”

Nate nearly choked on a mouthful of gelato, and Jules grinned.

Jake took a second to turn his surprise into a bright smile. “Oh, I have. Trust me, I have. Just... how would you even know that we'd be interested in sharing you?”

Jules shrugged. “I don't. I don't know that. But I liked my odds, so I played my cards. You both made it pretty clear you were interested in me, and I'm interested in both of you. I'm honestly not into the idea of being some kind of prize in a rivalry between you both so... Your choice.”

Once more, Nate and Jake exchanged a silent gaze. There were whole conversations happening in those looks of theirs, and Jules silently wondered whether they were even aware of it. She could have felt closed off by it all, but she had come into this knowingly. Instead, she felt a soft kind of heat settle low inside her at being able to even just watch this kind of intimacy play off from so close.

She interrupted the silence. “Obviously, I don't know all of what happened between you two, so you can totally tell me if I'm out of line. But you seem close. And you've drifted together, so obviously you're not afraid of intimacy. So I _assumed_ that sex probably wouldn't be a problem.”

She hadn't expected their reactions to be laughter, but didn't let it faze her.

“Yeah, that's... probably not gonna be a problem, no.” Jake said.

Jules raised an eyebrow.

“There's...” Jake gestured between himself and Nate. “history, I guess.”

“Oh.” Jules scraped off the last whipped cream in her bowl, not actually very surprised. “So... You guys are game? For a threesome, I mean.”

“Yeah,” Nate replied, gathering the empty bowls and passing them to Jake once he stood up. “I guess we are.”

“Awesome!” Jules grinned. While Jake was being a responsible adult and taking their bowls and spoons to a sink to wash them, she bent down to kiss Nate again. Her balance was awkward, but that didn't stop them from making the kiss much deeper than the first peck she had given him. She opened her mouth first, barely grazing his lips with the tip of her tongue, and Nate followed suite, raising a hand to her cheek.

Jake cleared his throat. “Not that I'm not happy for you both, but isn't it unnecessarily cruel to make out while I'm doing the dishes for you both?”

“I would help,” Nate replied. “But you keep telling me I shouldn't move too much because of my injury.”

“And I can't just leave a poor injured ranger all on his own, I'm not heartless.”

Jake shook his head, laughing. “You are both terrible people and I can't believe I'm letting you drag me into this.”

“Look at him,” Nate mock-whispered. “He's _jealous_.”

“I'm not listening!” Jake replied, clanging a spoon against the sink on purpose.

“Don't worry, Jakey,” said Jules. “We'll make sure to thoroughly thank you for your troubles later.”

Jake stared at her. He pointed towards her and Nate with a towel. “That is not fair. You are being totally unfair.”

She shrugged. “Tough life.”

Nate chuckled, head against Jules' arm. They controled themselves and managed not to resume kissing as they watched Jake make quick work of drying their bowls and putting them away. Once he was done, Jules stood up and quickly pecked him on the lips. She whispered a just as quick thank you in his ear, and pulled his hand into hers. “Any chance we could move this elsewhere?”

“My room?” Nate asked.

“Yeah,” Jake agreed.

They lead the way.

 

As they took the short walk back to the Rangers' quarters, Jules was happy to notice that Nate seemed to be walking just fine. It made Jake's mother hen attitude seem a bit exaggerated, but possibly all the more adorable.

She couldn't stop smiling, and the warmth in her gut was now an insisting presence. She had two handsome men on her sides, and they had saved the word, and Jules felt _happy_. She had forgotten all about her shift, about the Jaeger parts they needed urgently, about how to start repairing the 'Dome or how many people they had lost. In this moment, walking down the grey hallways of the Rangers' quarter, she felt _content_. She almost wished she didn't have that much self-control, and could just start running through the corridor, hopefully with Jake and Nate following behind.

She settled for squeezing Jake's hand just a little bit tighter as Nate opened the door to his room.

Jules wasn't surprised by the bareness of it. The room was standard: a bed, a closet with the doors hanging open, a chair in front of a small desk, some picture frames and books on the latter, and a simple bed, made with military precision.

It was a soldier's room, because Nate was a soldier. So many people were, around here. Sometimes Jules wondered whether she was one herself.

She let the thought melt away as Nate went to close his closet door and then leaned against it, unsure. Jules let go of Jake's hand, and walked towards him. She pressed a hand against one of his cheeks, and Nate leaned easily into the touch, letting himself be guided towards her so she could kiss him. There was no place left for insecurity, not in the small bedroom which left barely any space between them in the first place. So they both opened their mouths, deepening the kiss almost immediately. Jules felt herself shiver a little.

They were still hesitant with each other, awkward in the way that first kisses always are. Jules pressed in with her tongue, but Nate seemed more interested in toying with her lower lip. She didn't mind at all. The newness of it all, the discovery, made her let out a soft sigh.

She sighed again as she felt Jake come up behind her, arms settling around her hips. He pressed his lips softly against her neck. “I thought I'd been promised payment for my hard work,” he said, voice low and close to her ear.

Jules giggled, pulling back from Nate slightly. “What do you think?” she asked. “Should I take pity on him?”

“Oh, I don't know...” Nate replied, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Jules turned towards Jake, and found him doing his best impression of a kicked puppy. She laughed. “I'll be nice to you if you stop doing that ridiculous face.”

Jake pulled away, mock-offended. “How dare you! I'm adorable.”

“Adorable and ridiculous aren't exclusive, you know,” Nate pointed out.

Jules pointed at him. “He gets it.” Then she turned fully towards Jake. “Come on, come here.”

They switched their earlier position around, Nate plastering himself to Jules' back while she put her hands around Jake's neck and made good on her promise to pay him back for the washed dishes.

Jake was a totally different kisser than Nate, confident where Nate was soft and self-conscious. Considerate, but definitely more inclined to take the lead.

She felt Nate's lips brush the spot that Jake had kissed earlier, then nip the skin slightly. She made sure to bare her neck a little more, letting Nate know she was enjoying it.

Jules felt warm, surrounded. She felt safe, in a way she hadn't known she'd been craving.

“Bed?” Jake asked, pulling back for air with much less composure than his usual persona.

“Yeah,” Nate replied from behind her.

Jake peeled himself off from Jules and pulled his shirt up off his chest.

She knew it was childish and counterproductive, but she couldn't help laying her fingers on Jake's chest, caressing the marks his Jaeger suit had left behind, courtesy of too many hours of constant electrical current and heat.

Jake shivered, but let her explore, carding a hand through her long hair in retaliation.

“Come on,” Nate said then, putting his hands on her hips, just under the hem of her t-shirt.

She grinned and pulled away, getting rid of the tank top she had put on and throwing it towards Nate's desk chair. She was left standing in jeans and her bra, a look which she knew suited her well, despite the fact that her bra was a simple black thing, more practical than flattering.

She took the few steps that separated her from the bed and sat down on the edge of it, kicking off her sneakers and hooking her fingers over the waistband of her pants.

Jake and Nate were both standing still, looking at her, and she raised an eyebrow.

She started pullind down her jeans slowly, a gesture which would have made her feel almost ridiculous if both men's eyes were not tracking her movements.

It was a strange feeling, to have all of this attention focused on her, but it was thrilling, making her feel powerful and in control. She wasn't able to suppress a smile at the idea of calling herself powerful when she was sharing the room with two rangers trained in combat.

She shimmied out of her jeans and let them drop to the floor, quickly discarding her socks as well. She sat back on the bed, knees bent and legs teasingly spread open.

“What? Nobody's gonna join me?”

Jake and Nate exchanged one of their trademark looks, before going to work and discarding their clothes. Jake was the first to join her on the bed, wearing checkered boxer brief she found herself smiling at. He settled on her left side, and they started kissing again, relieved at the possibility of letting their hands trail along the other's skin.

The bed dipped again, on Jule's right side this time, and she turned towards Nate. She traced his collarbone with one hand, the other resting against Jake's hip, linking them all together.

She was careful, as she let her fingers trail down, of the bandage wrapped around Nate's abdomen.

“Does it hurt?”

Nate shook his head, watching her intently. She saw his gaze trail down towards Jake behind her, before turning to her eyes again, almost guiltily. Jules stifled a sigh, wondering when the two of them would finally get their shit together and _talk_. You would think that being in each other's head, sharing thoughts, memories and emotions would have made them just a little bit better at actually communicating, but Jules suspected it was the opposite. They _thought_ they knew each other, _thought_ they could sort through and understand everything that they had seen in the drift, and so they _thought_ they could go on without actually talking.

Or maybe they were just too scared.

But all of that wasn't Jules problem, and not what she was here for. Sure, she would be happy if their little time together helped Jake and Nate actually face each other, but the main goal was for her to have fun and enjoy herself, and she wasn't about to give that up.

She leant down towards Nate, hand dropping from his collarbone to his hip, avoiding the wound on his abdomen, and pressed her lips against his once more. He sighed into the kiss, hands immediately coming up to cradle her head. In the meantime, she found one of Jake's hands with the one she'd had resting on his hip, and pulled it up to her chest.

Jake didn't hesitate one second before running his hands over the soft fabric of her bra, lightly then more insistently. He slipped a finger under it, touching her breast proper as she kept on kissing Nate. Then she felt a hand in her back and a breath on her neck right next to her ear.

“Jules. Can I?”

She pulled away from Nate and turned slightly. “Yeah.”

Jake unclasped her bra, and she slipped it off her shoulder, dropping it somewhere on the floor. Nate looked down, and then two hands were on her chest, one from each man on either side of her.

This felt right, this felt good, and the heat inside of her was a tight knot that screamed how much it was not enough. Looking at the erection in Nate's boxers, the way his mouth hung slightly opened and the worshipful light in his gaze, she wasn't the only one feeling that way. She reached out with one hand, pulling slightly on the elastic band of Nate's underwear. “Down.”

Then she reached down behind her, palm pressing down on Jake's erection. She smirked at his intake of breath. “You as well.”

They both pulled off their underwear, and she followed suit, shimmying out of her panties. She couldn't help herself and rubbed two fingers against her clit. It didn't really help release the tension insider her, instead spreading it across her body in a glowing wave.

“How do you want to do this?” It was Nate who asked the question, although they were probably all thinking about it.

“You're lying down,” Jake replied, only half a second later. He seemed surprised, perhaps even embarrassed at his own readiness to answer. He scratched his neck, toying with his lower lip. “Your injury.” He then offered as explanation.

Jules grinned. For all of his usual bravado, Jake really was acting like a mother hen. His consideration was really sweet.

“I'm fine!” Nate protested.

“I was in your head,” Jake replied, sounding as irritated as Nate had. “I know how much it hurt and I'm not going to let you-”

“I could ride Nate,” Jules cut in. The remark had the nice effect of shutting them up immediately. She grinned. “If he's okay with it, of course. It would be less strain than him doing the fucking, if we're careful.” She tilted her chin up towards Nate. “What do you say?”

“I'm down. What about Jake?”

“I'm sure we can figure something out,” Jules replied, and then she started kissing Jake, pushing him back against the wall at the same time. Nate settled himself against the pillow, and Jules put a hand on his thigh, always careful to include everyone.

She kept the other one at the back Jake's neck for a while, getting used to the way he tasted, the way his mouth moved against hers, the warmth of him. He also had one hand on her neck, and the other was rubbing small circles against one of her nipples. Then Nate's hands were on her hips, on her ribs, exploring in an almost ticklish way. Jules knew she needed to speed things up, she could feel how wet she was getting, she thought her whole body was going to catch fire.

“Do you have lube?” she asked Nate. He quickly pullled a bottle out of his nightstand drawer and handed it to her, fishing out a couple of condoms at the same time. Ever the gentleman.

Jake was sitting sideways on the bed, while Jules was on her knees next to him, with Nate seated with bent knees behind her. It wasn't the most comfortable position for Jules, but she was used to much worse for much longer from years doing repairs on the Jaegers, and she liked being able to move if she needed to.

She squeezed some lube onto her fingers and warmed it up a little bit.

Jake moaned loudly as she took his dick in hand, immediately leaning into her touch and opening his legs some more. She leaned into him, slowly starting to suck a mark against his neck as she stroked him.

“Fuck,” Jake groaned, letting his head drop back to give her better access and throwing an arm over her shoulder. “Fuck.”

Jules felt Nate settle his chin on her shoulder and turned towards him. He looked reverent, but almost insecure as he reached out with one hand to join Jules' on Jake's cock. Placing his fingers over hers, he guided her hand, twisting his wrist on the upstroke. “Like this,” he whispered. Jake's whole body shivered, back arching.

Something passed between the two men as they crossed eyes, and Jules once more realised they shared things she would always be excluded from. But Nate pulled away right after that, letting Jules pick her own rhythm again. So she focused on Jake, on the way he shivered when she ran her thumb over the slit of his cock, gathering drops of precome.

“Fuck, Jules...” Jake groaned, hips bucking up involuntarily.

Jules let out a gasp of her own as she felt Nate's hand trail down her back, then under her. She opened her legs a little more, raised her hips to give him more access. Her muscles would probably start hurting very very soon, but it was worth it when Nate started running the tip of a finger against her clit.

“Yeah...” Jake's eyes were on her, on Nate's fingers touching her, and Jules twisted her wrist again like Nate had showed her. She bent down and kissed him, swallowing his moan. Nate had one hand on her hip, the other rubbing slightly between her folds. Jake's arm was still over her shoulder, but he put a hand behind her neck, pulling her even deeper into the kiss. She felt unbalanced between them, and yet safe, in control.

And then one of Nate's fingers slipped inside of her, and she felt like she was falling head first off a cliff. Instinctively, she tried to open her legs even more, trying to force her muscles to hold her up.

She broke away from Jake's kiss, quickly pecking his lips in apology when she saw him reach towards her again.

“Sorry,” she said quietly, and Nate slowed the movement of his finger inside her. “I can't hold myself up like this for much longer if I want to ride Nate afterwards, I need a break.”

“That's okay,” Nate replied, pulling his hand away so she could move.

“Yeah, it's fine.” Jake was a lot more breathless.

Jules pulled him above her as she let herself fall on the bed, settling in perpendicularly. It wasn't a lot of room, but she propped herself halfway up against the wall, and Jake managed to fit his knees between Jules' open legs.

She was weirdly proud, when he kissed her one more time, of how desperate he felt. He had let his control slip, definitely, and the kisses that could have been made to impress were now just new attempts at chasing a release that had been dangling over his head for too long already. The urgency of it was a thrill, an insistent pulse between Jules' legs. It felt like it had been a while since she had worked with a deadline that wasn't just _if you can't do this, everyone's gonna die_.

“Nate?” She asked above Jake's head as he latched onto her neck. “Will you be fine if we finish Jake off first?”

Jake made a sound against her skin that he would most definitely deny had been a muffled whine.

“Yeah, I'm okay,” Nate nodded. Jules extended a hand towards him, threading their fingers together. His dick was jutting out, probably achingly hard since it hadn't been touched since the beginnings of their proceedings. Nate definitely looked flushed.

One hand still in Nate's, Jules let the other one trail down Jake's chest right abover her, barely teasing one of his nipple before tracing down the slight burns and other scars that littered it. And then she went back to touching his cock, and he immediately leaned into it. The way he hummed softly at the contact made him resemble a cat purring. Jules twisted her wrist again like she now knew he liked, and he bit down on her skin in pleasure, just under her collarbone where she was sure he had now left a mark.

“Fuck, fuck,” he muttered.

“It's fine-” Jules started reassuring him, thinking that he was worrying about the bite.

“No, no, it's-” Jake shook his head. “Oh fuck. Nate, just-”

Jake looked up, something pleading in his eyes that made Jules' hips buck up involuntarily, and that was all it took for Nate to lean forward, as if drawn by a magnet.

There was something almost scared in both men's expression, like they were falling towards each other by the sheer force of gravity, unsure of whether they would survive the crash. But then their lips met and they both moaned into it, at the exact same time, and then Nate's free hand was on Jake's face. He let go of Jules, and then his other hand was on Jules' on Jake's cock, and Jake was shivering, gasping, the muscles in his arms quivering as he struggled to keep himself up, and then he was coming on both their hands, a strangled cry swallowed by Nate's mouth.

Jake pulled away, oversensitive and gasping, something like awe in his eyes. “Fuck, that was... Thanks.”

Jules grinned, pulling him down so she could peck him on the lips. “You're most welcome.” She felt him run a hand up her thigh, slipping a finger inside her. “Oh... More than welcome.”

Jake smiled, almost languid. Then he turned towards Nate. “I think Jules promised to ride you.”

“I think she did,” Nate replied, grinning in turn.

Jules laughed. “Boys, so impatient!” But she sat up a little, Jake manoeuvering to get out of her way. “Lie down,” she said to Nate, pushing him back as she settled with her knees on either side of his hips. Nate's hand was on his own cock, stroking slowly, gathering the precum at its end before sliding back down, and Jules gripped the headboard with one hand so she could put two fingers inside of her, groaning slightly at how wet she was, how good it felt to have something _finally_ going deeper in. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” she said to Nate jokingly, “But I still need some more prep.”

“I think I could help with that,” came a reply behind her, Jake's voice slightly rough. He batted her hand away, put one of his on her hip, and then two lubed fingers were sliding inside her once more.

It was Jules' turn to swear, and she gripped the headboard with both hands to keep her balance.

“He's good at it, the bastard,” she muttered, as Jake managed to find her g-spot despite the awkward angle.

Nate hummed in agreement and rose up to tongue at one of her nipples, and Jules had the distinct thought that if the drones and the mega-kaiju hadn't been the death of her, these two men definitely would. There were worse ways to go.

“Fuck, Jake...” He was working her open methodically, making sure she was loose and relaxed before slipping a third finger inside of her. Nate was softly peppering kisses in the space between her breasts. She ran a hand through his short hair, surprisingly soft. Her touch was encouraging, at first, but then she used it to pull him away.

“Condom,” she just said, not trusting herself to string together anything longer. Not needing to string together anything longer, because he would understand.

“Shit, Jules, you're so beautiful,” Jake whispered near her ear. She leaned into his touch and let him support her weight some more as she gave room for Nate to roll on a condom.

Once that was done, she put a hand on his face, guiding him towards her own so she could kiss him, deeply and thoroughly, feeling Jake hum against the skin of her back as she did so, his fingers still working her open. She hoped the kiss would be enough to convey to Nate how much she wanted him, how much she wanted them, how scared she had been to see them leave, off to war, off to _die_ , while she could only watch from afar.

“I'm ready, I'm ready.”

And Nate looked at her with those eyes, those eyes, which he usually hardened to steel in imitation of military authority, but which could be so soft otherwise. Those eyes that said he himself could barely comprehend that he was alive, and Jules was lining herself up, Jake's hands on her hips, and then she was sinking down and Nate was inside her and-

“Fuck.” Surprisingly – or not, since it seemed to be his favorite expletive during sex – the exclamation came from Jake. Jules felt him lay his head on her shoulder, but she couldn't think about it a lot more than to appreciate the contact, too busy enjoying the fullness of Nate's cock inside her and listening to his own heavy breaths as he willed himself not to move.

“Oh god, it feels so good,” she said, not expecting an answer from Nate as she lifted her hips and started moving up and down.

Nate's hands moved from her thighs to her hips, fingers crossing over Jake's. Jules shifted her weight a little, moaning as she found a better angle, the sound echoed by two mouths at once until everything was just an endless echoing of sounds and sensation, and Jules wondered for a second if this was what the drift could feel like, this sense of connection, of instantaneousness.

Nate was thrusting upwards in the same rhythm as her, eyes almost closed, and Jules ran a hand through his hair, because it was _there,_ because she could.

“Just...” Jake mumbled against her neck, and somehow she understood, and pulled slightly.

Nate's eyes shut more tightly as he whined, hips thrusting harder, once, twice, a few more times, and then he was coming insider of her, and Jules was shuddering with it, so close herself...

She rode Nate through his orgasm, and he reached towards her even as he pulled out, an apology on his lips. She almost laughed at the earnestness of it, because she wasn't really worried about not coming when Jake's hands were still against her, already manoeuvering until she lied back down, and then she had three fingers inside her again and a thumb working at her clit, and why would she worry about _anything_ when like this?

And Nate, _considerate_ Nate, was turning towards her, eyes still hazy with afterglow, and kissing her, and Jules felt her orgasm rise, more like a wave spreading through her whole body than a peak. It wasn't the most intense orgasm she had experienced in her life, but for a while it felt like it would last forever, until the aftershocks became overstimulation and she had to pull away, feeling electric.

“As Jake would put it,” she said, a grin spilling her face, “ _Fuck_.”

Nate burst into giggles, while Jake mostly looked confused. Jules decided to kiss his frown away, a surefire way to make things all better. Nate twined his fingers with Jake's, until the latter pulled him up and started kissing him instead of Jules.

There were all less desperate now, less scared that time was running out. Their kiss was softer, softer perhaps than those they shared with Jules, less exploratory and more like coming home.

It was a weird thought for Jules to have. She had known there had been history there, even before they had confirmed it, because it was something people gossiped about, but also something that showed in the way they held themselves around one another. She had known there had been history, and that had felt a little dangerous. But even as they came home to each other, they were making space for her, Jake still between her legs and Nate's hand on her thigh.

If war was destruction, Jules thought, this was what peace was: time. Time to discover, to create, to bridge and connect. It was the softness that came from a lack of urgency.

She looked at them as their kiss broke apart and they just stared into each other's eyes, foreheads resting against one another.

She breathed in. Breathed out. She felt happy.

And then she felt exhausted, the fatigue of the last few days suddenly dropping over her shoulders. Jules groaned. “Sorry to be the killjoy, boys,” she started, stretching her arms above her head. “But my body just reminded me that I haven't had a good night's sleep in a week. Also, no offense, Nate, but your bed is way too tiny to fit all three of us.”

Nate shrugged. “None taken. Feel free to use my shower if you want to clean up before you go.”

“Tempting offer. Is anyone willing to help wash my hair?”

That, too, what was peace was. Hope and dreams and laughter. Togetherness.

 


End file.
